Nokia bosses on bail
By Pulkit Sharma

In September, Nokia employee Sonia wrote a detailed suicide note before taking her own life.  In her note, Sonia accused 2 of her bosses – Suchin and Teja - of harassing her to the point where she felt there were no options but to take her own life.

Even before the police had established the basic facts, Nokia India started telling the Indian media that Sonia has no problems at the workplace.  This statement by Nokia India effectively backed the managers Sonia had accused of harassing her to an extent that she became a broken, suicidal person.  The Nokia Director of Communications told the media that their managers would also cooperate with the local police.

The Nokia managers, instead of assisting the police with their enquires, went to ground.  Police were unable to locate them.

The Bangalore police announced a reward of Rs. 10,000 and even hired auto rickshaws to drive around town to hunt the fugitives.

The police pressure finally flushed the fugitives.  They approached the Karnataka High Court which has granted them conditional bail.  The Judge has placed strict bail conditions on Suchin and Teja – both have to give bonds of Rs. 50,000 thousand and have to report to the police station every week.

The Bangalore police have to be commended for doing all they can to get justice for Sonia.  Now the learned courts will pass their verdict on what really happened.
 

(Techgoss had run the following story on Nov 8, 2008)

Nokia bosses hunted
By Pulkit Sharma

In September, Nokia employee Sonia wrote a detailed suicide note before taking her own life.  In her note, Sonia accused 2 of her bosses – Suchin and Teja - of harassing her to the point where she felt there were no options but to take her own life.

Even before the police had established the basic facts, Nokia India started telling the Indian media that Sonia has no problems at the workplace.  This statement by Nokia India effectively backed the managers Sonia had accused of harassing her to an extent that she became a broken, suicidal person.  The Nokia Director of Communications told the media that their managers would also cooperate with the local police.

The managers have not only refused to assist the police with their enquiries, but they have gone underground.  But the local police are determined to hunt down her alleged harassers.  The Bangalore police have hired five auto rickshaws (3 wheeler taxis) with posters of the Nokia managers which will drive around town offering a reward of Rs. 10,000 for any information leading to their arrest.

The local police have to be complimented for such initiatives to get justice for Sonia.  Over the years Nokia India has spent tents of thousands of dollars wining and dining sections of the Indian blogging community.  While respected news papers like Times of India and DNA have been extensively reporting this Nokia story from day one, sections of the blogging community are conspicuously silent.

(Techgoss had run the following story on Oct 6, 2008)

Nokia suicide lies
By Pulkit Sharma

Late last month, Nokia employee Sonia wrote a detailed suicide note before taking her own life.  In her note, Sonia accused 2 of her bosses of harassing her to the point where she felt there were no options but to take her own life.

When Indian newspaper DNA contact Nokia for comment, the phone company’s Director of Corporate Communication, Poonam Kaul emphatically denied that Sonia had complained to the telecom handset manufacturer.   According to DNA, Nokia’s Director of Corporate Communication, Poonam Kaul told them:  “We did take a look at the suicide note and there are many issues revolving around this. We believe that no such problems existed at the work place. However, we have requested the two managers to co-operate with any kind of investigations”.

Not only are the two Nokia managers not cooperating with the police,  Sonia’s mother has told DNA that not only did Nokia know about the breakdown in relationship between Sonia and her managers,  the company had asked both the parties to take leave for 5 days to sort out the problem.

Obviously, Poonam Kaul was just parroting the media strategy given to her by senior Nokia management.  It is time that whoever asked Poonam to feed lies to the media should be publicly exposed.

Nokia has 60 percent of the market in India and has a close relationship with some tech journalists.  It is no wonder that a few tech journalists are not investigating this in great detail.  But some newspapers are investigating Nokia.  To their credit, Times of India and DNA have done in depth reports on this tragic case.

(Techgoss had run the following article on Oct 4, 2008)

Nokia suicide bail
By Pulkit Sharma

Last week, Nokia employee Sonia wrote a detailed suicide note before taking her own life.  In her note, Sonia accused 2 of her bosses of harassing her to the point where she felt there were no options but to take her own life.

Nokia, India immediately expressed its sorrow at the incident and promised that its managers would fully co-operate with any police enquiry.  For some reason, both the managers have refused all contact with the police and are in the process of applying for anticipatory bail from the courts.  They even refused to take phone calls from the police and stopped attending work. This bail would ensure they are not arrested by the local police.  Now only a Judge can decide if they can be arrested.

The local police have yet to take possession of all the emails between Sonia and the accused from the Nokia mail system.

(Techgoss had run the following article on Sep 29, 2008)

Nokia suicide
By Pulkit Sharma

26-year old computer programmer MJ Sonia, working for Nokia, Bangalore committed suicide last week.  Her body was found 36 hours after the suicide.  According to a six page suicide note, she blamed two of her managers at Nokia for harassing her to the extent that she felt there was no option but to take her own life.

The Karnataka police have charged the two men with ‘abetment and harassment’ and are also investigating sexual harassment.

Sonia’s father Jagadish Mysore told DNA that his daughter had raised the issue with Nokia HR.  Nokia denies that Sonia had escalated the issue to their HR before taking her own life but has asked the 2 managers to assist the police investigations.